Time for FA to make a stand by relieving John Terry of the England captaincy

District Judge Howard Riddle could not have made life more uncomfortable for
the Football Association had he been trying. By adjourning John Terry’s
trial for a racially aggravated public order offence until after the
European Championship he ensured that the question of Terry’s participation
will haunt the national side for months.

Role model? Chelsea defender John Terry's England role has been called into questionPhoto: REUTERS

If it jolts the FA into providing the leadership it has failed to offer on the issue of racism however, Riddle’s indulgence of football’s calendar may yet do the game a service.

Given the circumstances, surely Terry cannot lead England in Poland, nor by extension travel as a member of Fabio Capello’s squad, and the Italian would be well advised to rule the Chelsea captain out of his deliberations.

To do so may be harsh on Terry, who insisted via his solicitors on Wednesday that he is innocent of the charges, but the circumstances surrounding this case make it impossible for the FA to allow him to wear the armband at Euro 2012 and still have any claim to moral authority over the game.

Teachers and other professionals would face suspension were they in Terry’s position without prejudicing any criminal proceedings.

Playing football is an irrelevance compared to the contribution of public servants of course, but the England armband is a potent symbol that may be overstated, but cannot be ignored.

During the last three months English football has been sucked into a racism crisis, a backward step almost as depressing as the response of the football authorities, who have left a vacuum where they should be providing leadership.

Let us put Terry’s disputed exchange with Anton Ferdinand aside.

Luis Suàrez’s racial abuse of Patrice Evra, and Liverpool’s stone-age response led by manager Kenny Dalglish, arguably did more to expose how far the game still has to travel. Shamefully, issues of respect and race became subservient to the colour of the shirt.

Yet the club have received no censure for their approach. Not from Richard Scudamore, hamstrung by the fact Liverpool are one of his shareholders, nor from FA chairman David Bernstein, who has no similar restraint.

Ask the Premier League or the FA and they will say they abhor racism and work hard to tackle it. They do. But sometimes saying it is not enough.

The game is crying out for leadership on this issue. In the circumstances the England captain cannot provide it, and nor can a club game consumed with rivalries and vested interests.

That leaves us with Bernstein. It is time he abandoned his caution and told Capello to stand down his captain.